Song of the Day: Hammock - Everything and Nothing

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJ’s think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on the Morning Show with John Richards, is "Everything and Nothing" by Hammock from their 2016 self-released album, Everything and Nothing.

Hammock - Everything and Nothing (MP3)

As ambient duo Hammock, musicians Marc Byrd and Andrew Thompson transcend their Nashville, Tennessee roots, ascending into otherworldly planes with their lush, post-rock sound. Now a decade into their career, the boys have garnered praise from British actor Ricky Gervais ("They're like Radiohead does the best film score ever") to another duo (and kindred spirits), Jonsi and Alex, who gave Hammock their first-ever live show in 2007, at the debut of the Riceboy Sleeps project.

Now on their ninth album, Everything and Nothing, the boys continue to create dreamscapes of sound, layering guitars upon synths upon more, evoking the exhilarated wall of sound you'd hear from Mew or fellow Southern sound-slingers Explosions in the Sky. Musically, the new LP is no big departure from their back catalog, aside from the fact that Thompson steps up more than ever on vocals, like on today's Song of the Day. But lyrically, it's a stark journey through darkness to the other side. In an interview on Bandcamp, Byrd explains, "This record was hard for me. There’s a lot of personal stuff that went on in my life, a lot of changes. But you get out the machete and you going through the brush, trying to find your way. And sooner or later, you reach the clearing... That was one of the things I kept expressing to Andrew. ‘Where’s the break? Where’s the moment when you look up and are able to actually be in light, and to experience light?’ It’s not just about waiting for the end, it’s about being in life." Via Facebook, Byrd concludes, "there is a genuine celebration of life in this track."

The band are currently off the road, but aren't slowing down otherwise: there's already a new album in the works, a 10 year anniversary reissue of Raising Your Voice...Trying to Stop an Echo on vinyl, and a deluxe edition of Everything and Nothing out by the end of the year. Keep track of all of this via Facebook, and watch a trailer for their latest album below: